TexasCityDikeFishing.com

Woke up this morning to another change in the weather. A stong cool wind is raking the coast. I stepped outside and retreated back in and added some warmer clothing.

The sky was still overcast, but glimmers of sunshine were breaking through as I made my way onto the Texas City Dike. This predominantly west wind will no doubt cause lower than normal tides for a few days.

I found one fisherman brave enough to endure the elements. I hope his persistence pays off. Tankers, barges, and tugs were struggling to perform their duties. The Texas City Ship Channel was backed up from the rough weather that took us by surprise yesterday.

I shot some video today to change things up. I didn’t use a tripod and shot most of the footage from the warmth of my old fishing Jeep. I apologize for the crooked video. I need to pay a little more attention to details like keeping the horizon level in my videos. Oh well, you get what you pay for. It’s a good ten minutes long without audio. Maybe you can whistle something while you’re watching it. I enjoyed the last clip the best. It’s some footage of a Perigrine Falcon munching on some breakfast on Mosquito Island. He wouldn’t let me get too close to him. He became disgusted with my camerawork and decided to fly off and pester some other feathered friends.

The video is being uploaded to Youtube and will be a while. If all goes well, it should be up later this afternoon. Select the highest resolution for best results.

Rain is welcome. We’ve had the worst drought that I can remember. As I type, thunder and rain is outside my window.

I made a run to the dike. Stopped by Boyd’s One Stop to say hello and then rode out to the end. Showers passed across the dike in short bursts. Only a couple of brave souls tried their luck with the fishing gear. The birds and ships made the best of some rough conditions.

A cool front is supposed to make its way through the area soon.

Rode out to the dike this morning and found foggy conditions. The tide was low, but water clarity was fairly good. Not many folks were on the dike and only saw a few fishing. Didn’t see any fish caught. Several boats had launched at the end and a few more were lined up at the ramp.

I also took a ride to the floodgate. A few boaters were fishing near the mouth of Moses Lake. Again, I didn’t see any fishing action. I took a few pictures and headed back home.

I seriously doubt it. This place has been like a ghost town.

My three month contract job turned into fifteen months. But today, I’m back in the “semi-retired” ranks.

Hopefully, I can once again hit the Texas City Dike with a little more regularity and share some fishing action.

Happy New Year everyone. Let’s go fishing!

Months of extreme heat and drought have left me without anything to report. I’ve fished one time during my absence and it was slim pickings.

But…fall is upon us and with that Bull Reds and Flounder. I’m gearing up and will be posting up some reports in the near future. In the meantime, get out and give me a report.

I would like to thank everyone who has sent me emails and commented on my little fishing blog. It’s great to meet so many fine fishermen/fisherwomen and I appreciate your input. People from all over the country have stopped by and it seems we all share a lot of the same interests.

It’s been such a strange year as far as weather is concerned. My heart goes out to our neighbors to the North that have had to deal with the tornadoes. The drought conditions that we are experiencing in the South is nothing compared to the dangerous weather that has been occurring in the Midwest. Hopefully things will get back to some sense of normalcy soon.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable long weekend and let me know if you go fishing.

I had the privilege of hanging with some fine fishermen Saturday. Oscar@CBF, Krash, Sharkman38, 88gmcjimmy and I met up in hopes of fishing between the seaweed.

We fished comfortably with a stiff North wind. Even had a some tidal movement. Finger mullet showed up in the surf later in the afternoon. It was clear, sunny, mild…a great day to be out on the sand.

Oscar cranked in a five foot Bull Shark on his new rig. The Bull opted for the biggest chunk of Jack that was offered. After a few pics and a measurement, he was back to where he come from.

I stayed until just before dark. I’ll let the others fill in the blanks after I left. Had a great time and I am glad to finally meet Sharkman38 and 88gmcjimmy. Thanks for the grub.

This link should give you a rough clip of Oscar’s Bull. I’m too lazy to add some decent audio. Just leave the volume down and hum the soundtrack from Jaws.

Friday came with great weather conditions. The wind finally eased up and it was probably a great day for some of the fishermen who got out. I planned on wading early in the morning, but slept late. It felt good after a long week at work, but after seeing the optimum weather conditions, I regretted not going.

Around ten, I met up with a friend of mine at his property in League City. He has a small pond and I brought my trout rod and a few lures. I managed to catch four small bass and a fat perch. It was fun, but not the kind of fishing that quenches my thirst for fishing.

Hope everyone has a good Mother’s Day Sunday and gets a chance to wet a line if possible.

I am one of three brothers, born between the
other two. Born on Galveston Island and raised along
the coast, I’ve had the opportunity to fish many
times. Many fond memories of fishing with my father
and brothers remain in my mind. My father worked for
an oil refinery here in Texas City. My younger brother
and I did the same.

One day in particular that stands out in my mind
is the time my father loaded us boys in the back of
his old Chevy pickup. We headed out to the Texas City Dike, a
place where we went many times to fish. The only thing
different about this trip was that we didn’t take any
fishing poles or tackle.

My dad stopped the truck about midway out on the
six mile jetty and proceeded to tell us to find what
we needed to catch a fish. Puzzled, we asked him what
he meant. He explained that he wanted us to scrounge
around the rock line and find some fishing line, a
sinker and hook. Well, we combed the area and finding
some line was easy. Turning over a few small granite
rocks revealed a few lead weights. With luck, we even
found a hook that was hung onto a rock extending over
the water line. Taking an old tin can, we wound the
line around it and fastened the hook and sinker.

We looked around for some bait that may have been
left over from an earlier fisherman, but couldn’t find
any. My dad instructed us to take one of the conchs
that congregated along the bay shore and “bust” it
open to get the crab out. We took a couple of small
rocks and did just that.

The hook on this crude fishing gear was baited
and my older brother swung the line out into the
water. The whole time, my dad sat back on the tailgate
of the old truck and watched in contentment. As luck
would have it, a golden croaker opted to feast on that
conch crab. Big brother wound him in on that old tin
can and landed the fish. We all whooped and hollered
that we were successful at catching a fish with
nothing other than what was found on the dike.

I didn’t know it at the time we were fishing, but
there was a lesson to be learned that day. My dad
explained to us young boys that when times got hard,
we could still make it if we were willing to work. He
showed us that we could take little or nothing and
produce a meal. It was just one of many simple things
that my father in a subtle manner passed on to us;
things that remain close to my heart.

That day, back in the early sixties, didn’t
produce a lot of fish, or fish of notoriety. We were
blessed to have other days fishing with our father
when we did catch that “mess of trout”. But today I
look back and know that it was probably my most
important trip because the memory forever returns when
I make my daily pilgrimage to the coast line.

A very weak cool front made its way down to the coast Thursday. For the first time in weeks, the wind direction shifted from the southeast to north. For a few short hours, the wind actually died down considerably.

Friday morning, I made my way to the Texas City Dike only to find strong winds from the ESE at 15-20 mph with gusts even higher. A lot of Sargassum seaweed was in the bay water and piling up along the granite rocks. It looked like another day of unfavorable weather and water conditions for fishing.

Near the end of the Dike, there were some of the usual die-hard fishermen battling the elements. These are some of the folks who don’t make excuses for not not fishing. They fish when they can; good weather, bad weather, whatever the conditions.

At the very end of the dike, I came up on Hector. He had his hands full with two rods out and fish on both of them at the same time. Here’s two videos of Hector in action.

Pretty cool, huh? Note Hector’s rods. He built them with short rod butts. Hector can cast extremely far. He has won longcasting tournaments and can get his bait out long distances during some very rough conditions.
As you can see, Hector landed both Bull Red Fish and released them back into Galveston Bay.